YAY!!
psp version!
ton of new troopers!
butt load of new maps!
JEDI!
SITH!

NEED I SAY MORE!

CHECK OUT THE SITE
http://www.lucasarts.com

this link has two new videos: http://media.pc.gamespy.com/media/737/7 ... ids_1.html

The video on the right has some footage of General Grievous and Obi-wan Kenobi IN ACTION! THe left...Darth Vader!

The galaxy is on fire and it's probably your own Diet Dr. Pepper fault. Yep, the sequel to last year's Star Wars Battlefront is on its way. We recently had an opportunity to visit LucasArts and play around with Pandemic's latest action offering. Here's what we know.
1. The game takes place in space, or perhaps on a planet and/or starship that resides in space. See ya! Har... We're just pulling your Wookiee so don't get your Ewoks all up in a bunch. The real preview sounds more like:
Battlefront is a third and first-person shooter that focuses rather heavily on vehicular manslaughter. Like last year, BF2 will feature the same set of conquest and galactic conquest play that made the original game so popular. Also expect the same factions as well as artistically revised Episode III content to make appearances. Whether you like massacring Gungans, punching Wookiees or exploding Rebellion trash, you'll have plenty to do. But then we already had plenty to do. So what's up for 2005?
Like all good sequels, Battlefront 2 plans to expand and enhance the original with a wealth of new content and plenty of welcome fixes and improvements. Foremost on the addition of new things to become and kill are the Jedi. An altogether more mysterious 6th class of trooper that will apply to all four of the title's main factions has also been added. According to LucasArts' producer extraordinaire, Dan Pettit, we should expect something that is, "Totally unique among preexisting classes."
Since we don't know too much about the shrouded number six soldier, we'll talk about the Jedi. Don't mistake a lightsaber wielding super powered warrior for a selectable class, though. Because Pandemic and Lucas aren't keen on creating "Jed-front 2," Jedi use is being intentionally limited. The dangerous Force fighters will be able to crush armies with devastating supernatural powers, but only skilled players will get to become them as a sort of reward or bonus. The specifics of this haven't yet been worked out, but our own Fatty McGee was quick to point out, "Great! Now the best players who already dominate can become Jedi and kill us all with even less trouble."
We're not convinced that'll be a huge problem because producer Dan certainly doesn't want an overpowering sense of Jedi. "We don't want it to be the Jedi game with 50 unstoppable Jedi running around destroying everything."
1. Aside from The Force and a new sixth class, the biggest combat addition is probably space battling. And so we asked with great reluctance and worry, "Are you going to do the flight mechanic like on Bespin... Like all crappy and stuff?"
"Nope." Says Dan with his production pad. "We're doing it well. Actually, how about we're doing it really well?"
In the first scenario we played, an Imperial Star Destroyer perched aggressively on one side of a map while a Rebel Cruiser attempted to defend the other. Between them existed the vast and entirely not so empty depth of space. The Frigates, Corvettes and Rebel Blockade Runners taking up the in-between void looked cool enough, but also serve as mobile automated defense platforms. In addition to them, there are plenty of fighters and transports flying back and forth from both warring ships -- shooting at everything that moves...or doesn't.
Each of the four factions will include four controllable flight vessels (not counting map specific vehicles). Imperials have access to the Tie Fighter, Tie Interceptor, Tie Bomber and Transport, which somewhat resembles Larry Holland's Missile Boat from Tie Fighter. The Republican Army uses the ARC-70, Jedi Starfighter, Republican Gunship transport (from EPII) and one other ship we have not yet seen. Rebels have access to the A-Wing, X-Wing, Y-Wing and miscellaneous transport. Only the Confederacy of Independent systems is unaccounted for thus far. Sadly, the cockpit modes for all these craft will not make it in this year.
In space, the action feels more like Rogue Leader than Colony Wars or Starlancer, but it's a much, much smoother experience than that GameCube title and even Battlefront the first. Ship control is quick, if limited, and the game now includes Crimson Skies inspired special maneuvers handy for eluding enemies in a pinch.
1. While all Frigates and Corvettes cannot be boarded, the larger vessels will include working hangar bays, command rooms, armories and gunnery emplacements. It's important to realize that Pandemic cannot model an entire ship, but at least the on-foot gameplay is still being delivered here. Think of it as Battlefield 1942's Midway map gone Star Wars. It's mainly about flying and shooting, but there's definitely grunt work involved. In fact, ground pounding will have a direct impact on most levels.
In our spacey demonstration, we could work to explode every ship with a long volley of torpedoes and blaster fire, but we could also hang back and allow the two capital ships to bombard each other with enormous laser pulses. The real winners, however, took it upon themselves to board the enemy and destroy specific components of their carrier, be they defense systems or the more vital power core. Of course, the engineering class can rebuild most of these devices and therein lies the back and forth style of attack and defend gameplay Pandemic is shooting for this year. Most of the time it'll be tied to specific multi-tiered objectives, too.
More generally speaking, multiplayer matches should be subject to pretty significant improvements over the previous game. Last year we had 32 players on PC, 24 on Xbox and 16 on PS2 (provided a dedicated system was used). This year we can expect 64 on PC, 32 on Xbox (dedicated or with a 1.5mb or greater pipeline) and 24 on PS2, which will still need its own dedicated server. Naturally, Pandemic intends to release a full suite of software that users will be able to install on their PC to allow gamers to host their own PS2 servers without a dedicated PS2 system. And, LucasArts will host a multitude of dedicated servers across all platforms.
We also learned that Battlefront 2 will include 12 new maps, but when we asked our hosts whether or not the game would use the old maps as well, the room grew uncomfortably silent and oddly smiley. It was right about then that someone blurted out, "How about that singleplayer, eh!?!"
Like multiplayer, the solo game is receiving an Australian sized kick to the Diet Dr. Pepper. The focus is now on the player. The player is the hero, they say. He or she will need to complete objectives. Sitting around waiting for 30 buddies to do everything just isn't going to fly anymore.
1. Making the player the hero is Pandemic's first step in developing an actual story that will this time tie together all the insane combat. And it won't just be Yoda yammering on about how Planet X needs a swift conquering. While our presenters were not talking about plot specifics, we were assured that the story will span several generations of Star Wars lore and include notable characters from the universe. Maybe if we're lucky we'll run up against Admiral Thrawn's armada. The story is being pushed so hard, Pandemic has even elected to combine tons of film clips right into the actual gameplay.
"Battlefront was great in that it made you feel like a part of the Star Wars battles. Now we're trying to take that to the next level." Says Dan about how his plot is the next level.
Battlefront 2 will also feature plenty of subtle improvements. Expect:
A sprint function. Class switching at command posts. Roll and jump tweaks. Targeting improvements. Better weapon balancing. Better vehicle balancing. Context sensitive, simpler squad-based commands. A melee attack (maybe). A reduced, more intuitive HUD. Online friend support for all platforms.
Impressively, the graphics engine has also been revamped and injected with a fresh dose of sparkling bacta flavored life. While the light-bloomed screenshots we've attached to our media page below can't really say all that much aside from, "Boy, it sure is Star Wars," trust that the moving version of BF2 features a great deal of activity and uses more pronounced particle effects, crisper graphics and larger environments. Comparatively, this game's biggest map is roughly 33% larger than the last game's.
While we didn't get too much time with Battlefront 2, what we did play definitely looked and felt smoother and more polished than last year's title. Assuming the team at Pandemic can incorporate enough fixes and new content into the product, we could find ourselves playing one kicking shooter come fall. -from ign

COOL NEW CLONES!!! AND JEDIS!

SWBF II will be a true masterpiece !